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NORTHERN TRUST OPENFebruary 18, 2015Carlos SainzPACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA CANDACE REINHEIMER: We welcome Carlos Sainz to the interview room. Carlos has been awarded the 2015 Northern Trust Open exemption. You had your first Top‑10 of your PGA TOUR career at Sanderson Farms. How about talking about your start to the year, and then we'll open up to the media for questions. CARLOS SAINZ JR: Yeah, the start to the year was pretty good. I got into three tournaments out of the five, finished Top‑10 at Sanderson Farms, which is great, because it was a state that I played college in, being in Mississippi had some close ties, going to university there at Mississippi State. It was just a good experience having some fans behind me. Had some family over there watching, as well, so it was a good start of the season. Q. Curious where you were when you heard about your exemption and what your reaction was, and prior to this week, how much have you played Riviera? CARLOS SAINZ JR: Well, I was in a Pro‑Am at Sony when I got the call from Mr.Waddell, and I was ecstatic. I was really happy. I mean, It was a great relief off my shoulders to know that I get to play one more event on the West Coast Swing. And prior to this week, I've never played Riviera. I haven't really played that much golf in California besides a few tournaments that I've played on the Web and PGA TOUR now. Played a couple practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday, and the course is great. The course is in great shape. Hopefully we get to keep up the good weather and be some good scores. Q. Talk a little about transitioning from the Web.com Tour to the PGA TOUR and how that transition is going for you early in the season. CARLOS SAINZ JR: Yeah, you know, last year I played up till the Tour Championship, I played 14 weeks in a row on the Web.com and that was a huge change coming from mini‑tours and the Canadian Tour. It really taught me a lot about travelling and how to manage your time and your golf game. And coming into the beginning of the year, we really didn't have much of an off‑season, so it was nice to keep the momentum going, and I think that Top‑10 percolated from playing all those weeks in a row and just being sharp and having your game be real sharp after playing so many weeks. So the Web.com was a great tour. It taught me a lot, like I said, about traveling, playing different golf courses, different setups, different parts of the country. We even played in South America and Canada. I know the competition is a little higher obviously here on the PGA TOUR and the courses are a little more demanding. But when it's all said and done, it's just a game and you're just trying to get it in the hole the best amount of strokes. Coming from the Web.com was a great experience. It's really taught me a lot and I think it's going to serve well this year on the PGA TOUR. Q. What are your early thoughts on Riviera, the golf course setup, and how it sets up for your game? CARLOS SAINZ JR: I love the golf course. It rewards ball‑striking and you have to be able to get up‑and‑down when you miss a green. The greens are fast and they are pretty firm already. So for me, I think it suits my game well. I consider myself a pretty good ball‑striker and my short game is probably the best part of my game. If you can keep it in play here and hit in the fairways, you're going to be able to attack some of these pins. So if you're not, it's going to be a long week. So that's kind of the game plan, just fairways and greens. Q. I'm assuming you're the sort of player who sets goals for himself. If so, what are your targets this year on the PGA tour? CARLOS SAINZ JR: Some of my long‑term goals is to make it to the second week of the Playoffs. Obviously keeping the card is one of the goals. Being in contention, I think I put five times throughout the season. Short‑term goals was to be in contention one of these weeks on this West Coast. So this is the last one, so I'm looking forward to having that challenge. You know, some of these performance goals that I based on statistics. Only playing one year on the Web.com Tour, you don't really have that much statistics to fall back on, so that's kind of an ongoing process. Just learning every week, getting better every week. I mean, this is new experience obviously on the PGA TOUR, and it was a new experience on the Web.com Tour. But I feel like my game is pretty ready for both stages, and you know, just going to try to improve every week. So we'll see how it goes from the statistic standpoint, but obviously being in contention is the main goal. Q. What do you think you learnt most about yourself as a player last year? CARLOS SAINZ JR: You know, being on the Web.com Tour, it was a tour that there was a lot of traveling involved, from South America to Louisiana to Canada. You learn a lot about not only yourself but about other people. I roomed with one of my teammates that played at Mississippi State pretty much all year. His name is Matt Fast, and we had a pretty experience, just kind of being road warriors out there on the Web.com Tour. It was such a great experience from a traveling aspect to seeing different spots in the United States that I've never seen before. It was my first time being in northern California last year at Stonebrae, and coming back to Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines here in southern California. It was just a great experience, top to bottom. As a person, you learn a lot about yourself because you're on the road a lot and like I said, I played 14 weeks in a row, so it's a humbling experience, but you try to make the best of it and you try to have as much fun and get your family out there, you get your significant others out there sometimes, and just a great, great experience and feel very privileged to be doing it. Q. With 14 weeks on the road, and as you say, top to bottom, largely a great experience. But what was the most challenging experience you faced last year, on or off the course? CARLOS SAINZ JR: That's a good question. Managing your time. I think everyone that works for a living battles with it, managing your time, being as successful you can with the time that you have, no matter if you have kids or if you have an important job or if you have time restraints. The biggest challenge I think as professionals is managing your time. Guys like me who are single versus guys that have families out there, it's a totally different life. So they have to manage their time different than I do. At the same token, I can't just be in my hotel all day and just sitting around and going to the golf course. So I have to occupy my time either working out or going to a movie or seeing what's around town and seeing what the town has to offer. Managing your time I think would be the biggest thing, but also learning the courses. You have to do your best because as a rookie, we don't get to see the golf course as many times as some of the other guys that have played in years past out here. So experience has a lot of that factor to these tournaments week‑in and week‑out. It always comes back to managing time. But I would say that's the biggest thing. Q. What does it mean to you to receive the Northern Trust Open exemption for a tournament as historic as this one? CARLOS SAINZ JR: Means a lot. It means a lot. Northern Trust Open being a Chicago‑based company, growing up in Chicago, born and raised in the city, and then moving to the suburbs, it's been a great privilege to get this exemption. It's an very historic tournament. I'm a big fan of Ben Hogan, and you know, the people that have won at this tournament, obviously are great champions. Getting into this tournament means a lot, and it's just another step in the right direction for me. And I want to thank, obviously Northern Trust and Mr.Waddell and all of the people that helped me out to get to this spot. Means a lot. CANDACE REINHEIMER: Thank you, good luck, Carlos. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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